Movie News

REVIEW: Under The Skin

While many a critic are raving about this sci-fier based on a work of fiction, I was totally confused til the end. Plus- I was completely unaware til I read the “notes” from the publicist that most of this was filmed, not with actors, but with real people who didn’t recognize a brunette-hookerized Scarlett Johannson trying to pick men up.

O.K. So here’s the story. Scarlett Johansson plays an alien in human form who drives around Scotland looking for lonely, unattached men who won’t be noticed missing after she takes them back to a cottage where she seduces them, leading them to their doom, in order to feed them to her fellow aliens, who are off in another world.

Johannson has her first full on nude scenes - 4 of them, in fact. The pacing is slow. The imagery is dark. Most of the time, Johansonn is just in her pick –up, trolling for male victims. The most jarring scene shows Johansson’s heartless alien impassively watching a crying toddler whose parents had just drowned on a chilly beach with the tide closing in on the wailing baby.

It’s a gutsy, off-beat role for Johansson, a far cry from her big film opening this weekend. Honestly, I’d have enjoyed it more had I known from the get-go that her scenes were filmed with real people who failed to recognize the superstar.

This is not your typical sci-fier. It’s super creepy , at times sexy and very artsy. In many ways, it’s unforgettable.